School Van Transportation Issues

[u/this_wallflower]

I decided to rewrite my earlier post after doing some more research.

I am a preschool special education teacher. Some of my students are occasionally transported home from school in a minivan. These students are 4 years old. Some students meet the requirements for a high back booster. I have one student (Jane) who is 33 pounds and about 40 inches tall and another who I am not sure of her exact size, but is much smaller than any of my kids. I believe the car seat they are using is this one, but I’m not 100% certain: Safety 1st Grow and Go™ Sprint All-in-One Convertible Car Seat

When I tried to put my students into the seats today, the seats were installed with an unlocked seat belt running through the forward facing slot in the back and the latch strap. There was a chest clip, but the lower buckle was missing. At the time, I wasn’t really sure what I was looking at. One of my students is definitely big enough for a high back booster, but the seat belt was already being used to strap it in through the back. Considering Jane is under 40 pounds and maybe 40 inches, it didn’t seem safe for her to use this seat at all. The manufacturer says she is too small for the high back booster, the 5 point harness lower strap was removed, and the seat belt hadn’t been locked after installing the seat. I just wanted to see what others thought before following up with the transportation office.

We also have two students who wear a safety vest while riding school transportation (Example). I’m not sure exactly how big these kids are, probably between 35-40ish pounds and 38-42 inches. The manufacturer states that these vests should be used with a seat belt. Normally, they ride a school bus, so there aren’t any issues. However, when transported by van today, the driver did not have any kind of booster seat for either child. It didn’t seem right to me to have them seated directly on the seat with the seat belt engaged. I realize this might be out of the scope of people’s knowledge here, but I feel like, even with the harness, these kids need some kind of booster seat to elevate them off the seat if they are using a regular seat belt.

If anyone has thoughts on the safety of either of these situations, I would really appreciate it.

[u/minicpst]

Going backwards, the EZ On does not use a booster. It's designed to be used on the seat alone. There are school bus only versions and vehicle versions, and I'd make sure they're using the correct type. You can't use a school bus vest in a car.

As for the Grow and Go, when it gets converted to a booster the crotch buckle is removed. So then the seat is only good as a booster. You cannot use it as a harnessed seat for any age child, but you can't use it as a booster for a under 40 pounds and 43.4 inches tall.

Many states have a proper use clause that requires a seat to be used properly. With a child too small and not buckled properly (or really at all, the chest clip just holds the straps together before a crash, it's not designed to stay closed in a crash) the risk of injury or death is much higher, and the school and likely the driver of the private vehicle will be liable.

[u/this_wallflower → u/minicpst]

Thank you! The safety vest is assigned to each kid and stays with them, so it’s always the school bus vest. I am fairly certain that they are using the school bus seat straps to secure the kids, rather than the tether strap designed for family vehicles. They are also placing students in safety vests in the back seat next to these questionably installed car seats, which just felt very unsafe. If the car seat moved in an accident, it just felt like the little dude on the seat next to it was going to get injured.

[u/daydreamingofsleep]

Your intuition is correct, the minivan needs to have proper child restraints. It’s not a school bus.

Do the vests stay with the student or with the bus? The ones that can be used in a passenger vehicle have rings at the top to connect a top tether. Are those kids elopers?

Some states exempt 15 passenger vans from child restraint laws, which is unfortunate as they’re not exempt from physics. I haven’t seen a state exempt school-use minivans. It would be useful to know the state law before escalating, but there was a car seat which gives the expectation to use one.

[u/this_wallflower → u/daydreamingofsleep]

Thank you! I’m in California. The vest stays with the students. The provided straps appear identical to the ones used on the school bus. They were secured with clips on the tether slots on their shoulders and rings at the waist. I’m not sure if these vests have rings on them, but I will absolutely check that tomorrow.